Well that's it, my love affair with wave two is over....

We parted company this weekend at Birmingham, we had a long journey together. But its now time to stop flirting with the sisters, wave 3 and 4 and start going steady.....

So looking back what was my stand out moment with wave 2 ? ...... If I had to pick......it was those early days driving MC30s off the board at speed four and later the thrills of the raider/glad hit hard;die fast list.

Yes for me wave two was all about the emotional roller coaster that was fragile but nasty and fast, little close in Brawlers and learning to manouver them in safely and then out the other end.

But if past was "emotional", the future may just be "Liberty"

+1 and a some tears for wave 2!

I had the opposite love affair. I pulled out my dual MC80 lists and decided to never move fast again.

Then thw Liberty showed up and I decided a large base ship traveling fast could be a thing

Haha. Good post.

It was also a period of realizing that the plain jane friend of the hot Gladiator/MC30 was a steady, reliable, compassionate and intelligent girlfriend (squadrons).

For me Wave 2 was only glorious in that span when I had my Sullust-prize ISD-II with a VSD-II escort, Avenger, Overload Pulses. It felt like I was a real Imperial capital group, a warship squadron to be feared, and I was crushing eveything in my path. The occasional MC80 or enemy ISD would show up to fight, and fight we would.

Then Ackbar came. Since then I've been trying to find a Wave 2 Imperial list I'm happy running that doesn't lean on the two big meta-changing Imperial cards, and I was never able to. No list could capture the same magic that I felt in the beginning.

While I'm eager to run the Interdictor through it's paces, the cruiser doesn't seem to offer solutions to problems I was experiencing across Wave 2 with heavy ships I liked. In fact, I might actually switch sides for a time and run the Liberty with the MC80 through it's paces, until Wave 5 comes out. Once the ARQ and Defenders get here I'll be too eager for them to get down over ISDs not being supreme anymore.

It feels like a dark time to be an Imperial player who refuses to join the Rhymer-Demolisher axis.

It feels like a dark time to be an Imperial player who refuses to join the Rhymer-Demolisher axis.

If anything with Wave 3/4 it feels like Rhymer is a bit stronger and Demo a bit weaker. I appreciate what was added but over all it didn't seem like there was much to improve imperial firepower. There's the prospect of what is to come in Wave 5 to improve the VSD, but that's still off in the distance yet.

I do wonder what I'll be taking to the next set of tournaments. Like to think there's something out there when combined will be a great imperial selection.....

It feels like a dark time to be an Imperial player who refuses to join the Rhymer-Demolisher axis.

If anything with Wave 3/4 it feels like Rhymer is a bit stronger and Demo a bit weaker. I appreciate what was added but over all it didn't seem like there was much to improve imperial firepower. There's the prospect of what is to come in Wave 5 to improve the VSD, but that's still off in the distance yet.

I do wonder what I'll be taking to the next set of tournaments. Like to think there's something out there when combined will be a great imperial selection.....

Imperials didn't need a way to improve their firepower. They needed a way to make things sit still long enough to bring their firepower on target. Interdictor does exactly that. It's about stopping Rebels' guerilla warfare tactic.

It feels like a dark time to be an Imperial player who refuses to join the Rhymer-Demolisher axis.

If anything with Wave 3/4 it feels like Rhymer is a bit stronger and Demo a bit weaker. I appreciate what was added but over all it didn't seem like there was much to improve imperial firepower. There's the prospect of what is to come in Wave 5 to improve the VSD, but that's still off in the distance yet.

I do wonder what I'll be taking to the next set of tournaments. Like to think there's something out there when combined will be a great imperial selection.....

Imperials didn't need a way to improve their firepower. They needed a way to make things sit still long enough to bring their firepower on target. Interdictor does exactly that. It's about stopping Rebels' guerilla warfare tactic.

Right.... so that Demo can have a better time choosing which arc to close into and destroy. INTs are at least some way to counter Liberties, since you need to have a way to get around that forward shield 5 arc...

I mean, I'm just sore that my previous archetype won't work. Ackbar attack lists out-gun you, and the better fighters now can cut it apart. While Screed and Vader can give you a little more controls over your pool, all that needs to happen is the ackbar pool rolling better to make your advantage moot. It's uncommon, but it's there. Honestly I thought coming out of the starter kit that it would be the Empire with the bigger pools and the Rebels having more control. That mentality seems to have been reversed.

Still, I've finally given in and started to shift my attention to building fighter groups other than generic clouds. Gencon kind of got my attention that a two-ship list with a great fighter swarm actually works. I agree that Rhymer got stronger and Demo got weaker, by virtue of enhancing the fighter game and allowing them not only to block the Demolisher when it's on the charge, but also command the same amount of fighters for much cheaper. A friend also pointed out using Gozantis as activation fodder for the big ships, so there's that too. And when I have my INT, I might try putting it with some VSD-Is with missiles to immobilze a target for my VSDs to catch and annihilate. Getting that to work might be fun too.

I am however more excited for Wave 5 than Wave 4. I want access to the new fighters we're given (TIE DEfenders!) And I like what I'm seeing on the Arquitens.

My wave two moment that left me gasping in the afterglow involve the M-80 Command. Gallant Haven was already my carrier of choice, but I was determined to figure out how to use B-wings. Once I put a M-80 running With Haven throwing squad commands it was glorious. It was the first time I was able to use concentrated fighters to force ships to strip shield and defense tokens before the big ship fires. After the M-80 fires, Haven sends in any squads left and gets to fire it's few dice into a wide open arc that's wide open and already damaged.

Wave 2 has sucked for me.

Glad its gone.

that's only because of your dice.....

But that was the take-away for me... Wave 2 gave me all of these goodies that utilise red-dice, in increasing veracity and volume... But piss-poor mitigation systems for the Rebellion... So everything always felt completely incomplete.

I am glad it is gone.

I am looking forward to what 3, 4 and 5 will bring me, to help me...

It wasn't so much the fact that I sucked with dice... But that I felt absolutely powerless to actually do anything about it.

Yoda's thoughts on this development:

Wave 2 has sucked for me.

Glad its gone.

"Glad" its gone.

Is that a freudian slip?

Glad(iator); it's gone!

Wave 2 has sucked for me.

Glad its gone.

"Glad" its gone.

Is that a freudian slip?

Glad(iator); it's gone!

No.

I'm just really happy that the limitations of Wave 2 are coming to a close.

You know Dras, Darth Vader can help you with your red dice woes. How about feeling the power of the dark side?

Its been thought about.

I've resisted, because up until recently, our Tournament Scene has had about a 4:1 Ratio of Imperial:Rebel Players... At one Tournament, it was 12:1. (I was the 1.)

But the Regionals we held here end of last month, was 8:6 Rebels to Imperials, so now I feel a little more justified considering it.

But part of that is the Interdictor - because I'm a sucker for Battlefield Control...

So I am considering it... Hence happy Wave 2 is over and Wave 3-4 is something to explore.

My wave two moment that left me gasping in the afterglow involve the M-80 Command. Gallant Haven was already my carrier of choice, but I was determined to figure out how to use B-wings. Once I put a M-80 running With Haven throwing squad commands it was glorious. It was the first time I was able to use concentrated fighters to force ships to strip shield and defense tokens before the big ship fires. After the M-80 fires, Haven sends in any squads left and gets to fire it's few dice into a wide open arc that's wide open and already damaged.

You're forgetting a C somewhere...